The present invention relates, in general, to manufacturing optimization and, more particularly, to optimizing the manufacture of electronic components.
The manufacture of electronic components such as semiconductors requires many process steps and many different types of equipment. Each step and type of equipment introduces variation into the manufacturing process that decreases the yield of the semiconductor devices. For example, a first processing step may include a photolithographic step that is performed in a piece of equipment manufactured by one manufacturer. A subsequent processing step may include a photolithographic step that is performed in a piece of equipment that is manufactured by another manufacturer. Another processing step may require another piece of photolithographic equipment that is manufactured by the same or different manufacturers as the first two pieces of photolithographic equipment. Each of these pieces of photolithographic equipment have different tolerances that are typically unaccounted for in the manufacture of products such as semiconductor components.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have a method and a structure capable of allowing the fabrication of these devices without introducing large errors between different pieces of equipment. It would be of further advantage for the method to be portable, user friendly, and capable of improving cycle times as well as yields.